There are some important tidbits to definitely be pulled from this novel, hidden amongst the words like little gems. His quirks andВ insanities would equallyВ make me scratch my head, laugh, yawn. While Brown seems to stumble into some moments of greatness, he isВ not a character people would aspire to be. I am not sure how much of John BrownвЂ™s character was artistic license, and how much was based on reality, but Brown is mad as a fish! I thought I was embarking on a heroвЂ™s storyвЂ¦ That is not really what you get with this novel. This novel isВ surprisingly funny, while also being very profound. I like that you might hold this, myВ child, as a token of your newfound freedom and family, joining us as freedom fighters, even thoughВ you is a girl and we need to get rid ofВ you as soon as possible.вЂќ Like as not, you now believes you has no family or may neвЂ™er see what family youВ has ever again.В But the fact is, you is in the human family and is welcome to this one as any. вЂњI reckon you is not feelingВ righteous about what has justВ transpired thereabouts, but in the name of freedom we is all soldiers of the cross and thus the enemy of slavery. Granted, McBride definitely earns some props for writing it in this fashion, and being able to hang on to that style for the entire novel. I never got into a nice flow, and I had to read it really slowly in order to take in what the author was saying. This was a trek! I found it very difficult to read almost 400 pages of broken English. Granted, not sure I ever would have picked this to read on my own volition. Another one that I have never heard of, but I love historical fiction, and the anti-slavery crusade of John Brown does peek my interest. This is the November 2020 selection for Susan OrleanвЂ™s bookclub on Literati. Eventually Little Onion finds himself with Brown at the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859-one of the great catalysts for the Civil War.ДЄn absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and told with McBrideвЂ™s meticulous eye for detail and character, The Good Lord BirdВ is both a rousing adventure and a moving exploration of identity and survival.

Over the ensuing months, Henry-whom Brown nicknames Little Onion-conceals his true identity as he struggles to stay alive.

Henry is forced to leave town-with Brown, who believes heвЂ™s a girl. When John Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the area, an argument between Brown and HenryвЂ™s master quickly turns violent. Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1857, when the region is a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces.

From the bestselling author of The Color of WaterВ and Song Yet SungВ comes the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John BrownвЂ™s antislavery crusade-and who must pass as a girl to survive.

Bird bookends